Blogs and Commentary

Gilbane: With Pannell Sidelined, Senior Leadership a Must More
Than Ever

JJ Gilbane

"Seniors lead the way" is a quote that we hear almost daily
regarding the direction of our team. Whether it is in practice, the
weight room, or in class, the team goes as the senior class
goes.

With the injury that has unfortunately sidelined our captain Rob
Pannell, we have had to respect and honor our responsibility to the
team more than ever. Every member of our senior class has had to
step up in order to help captain the team with Rob not able to be
out on the field playing with us. Before each game, our entire
senior class is up front leading the stretches; when the referees
ask for the captains, we have all eight healthy seniors go up and
represent our team. One of the best ways to lead and be able to
communicate with the team is becoming a tighter group, and now that
we start our Spring Break trip together, that is one of our main
focuses.

We began our spring break last Saturday and will have until this
Sunday to be together and bond as a team. We started off our break
with a game at home against Yale, and will now face off against the
University of Denver on Tuesday at Hofstra University.

We just arrived on Long Island on Sunday night, and quickly
headed over to Chris Cook's residence for team dinner. Chris's
father played lacrosse at Cornell in the 1980s, and provided us
with a great dinner and a premiere showing of some of his games and
highlights from back when he played. Watching clips of him and his
teammates on the old Astroturf on Schoellkopf Field sprinting
around, diving for balls, and shooting and passing from anywhere at
anytime, made everyone take a step back to look and realize the
history of our program and what it means to play for Cornell. Lots
of laughs and fun were had at the Cook residence as games of pool,
foosball, basketball, and even a few piano and drum competitions
were held.

My favorite part of spring break is getting roomed with
different guys who you usually wouldn't room with. The coaches
split up our team, usually freshman with seniors, and sophomores
with juniors. This allows the younger guys to get to know the older
guys, which helps us become a tighter knit group and really get to
know your teammates off the field. My freshman spring break I was
fortunate enough to room with both Rocco Romero and John Glynn.
Some of my fondest memories of my entire freshman year were getting
to know each of them over this break, laughing and messing around,
while attempting to soak in anything at all I could from those guys
who I looked up to so much.

Four years later, I am on the other side of the spectrum, and am
fortunate to be rooming with Erik Turner, a freshman midfielder
from Alberta, Canada. Hopefully I, as well as all of the other
seniors, can help show the freshmen the way and make them
understand how quickly college flies and to enjoy every second of
it. While many other college students may be relaxing with their
friends in tropical locations during their breaks, I wouldn't want
to be anywhere else but here with my brothers, getting closer and
working for a similar goal.